Paying for Road Repairs
|  Video
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| Amanda Tetlak |
| 4/15/2009 |
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| Driving down the street has become a game of dodge the potholes. It`s pretty normal for roads to be torn up this time of year, but flood water has made the problem worse. And city and county leaders say they need more money for repairs. Town leaders from all corners of the state were at the Capitol today urging legislators to restore the Governor`s Department of Transportation budget that included $120 million for the Highway Distribution Fund to take care of infrastructure needs. A report just released by a Washington D.C. non-profit organization says one-quarter of North Dakota roads, and 22 percent of North Dakota bridges are deficient. And the added strain on infrastructure from flood waters and a tough winter isn`t helping. "If April showers bring May flowers, it is true at least this year that the snows bring us potholes," says Connie Sprynczynatyk, of the ND League of Cities. Many county leaders say they`ve already spent double their entire year`s budget in the first three months of the year on snow removal... Now they don`t even know what they`ll do once the floodwaters clear. That`s why they`re asking lawmakers to put funding back into the Department of Transportation`s budget bill. "It won`t even come close to what we`re going to spend on fixing repairs," Keith Berndt, the Cass County engineer. "If we spend it all now, we won`t have any for the next time," says Rep. Michael Nathe (R), of Bismarck. Leaders say the state has plenty of money to go around, and with the hurt that is happening across much of North Dakota, now is the time to start spending the state`s surplus. "We always keep talking about we`ve got to be conservative in North Dakota and we`ve got to wait for that rainy day," says Mark Johnson, of the ND Association of Cities. "Well, I think this is our rainy day." They say if our roads and bridges continue to decay, so will the state of our economy. "We have infrastructure out there that is so critically important to our economy and if we don`t do something to patch it up as soon as possible, the economy will hurt for years to come," says Johnson. The report says the $170 million in federal stimulus money is not enough for the needed improvements. It says the state needs to boost road spending by $254 million each year to provide adequate road maintenance. |
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